Chris Beard: Win Case is a ‘positive’ for the Ole Miss basketball program and will ‘impact winning’

The Ole Miss men’s basketball program is one that has experienced a few tumultuous seasons and its most recent offseason was no different with a coach change but one constant through it all has been Win Case.

Following the departure of Kermit Davis this past February it was Case that stepped up into the acting head coach role for the final weeks of the season. Case guided Ole Miss through the SEC Basketball Tournament in Nashville but a short time later handed the reins over to new head coach Chris Beard.

Since Beard’s arrival in March one question that lingered when the topic of the formation of the coaching staff came up was Case’s status. That has continued to be a question without an answer of abosolute, but some clarity came this week.

Beard sat down with The Ole Miss Spirit on Wednesday to discuss several items, include Case’s standing within his staff.

While no official confirmation was given by Beard regarding any of his assistant coach hirings he did speak about Case and what the latter has meant through this season of change within the program.

“Win’s a winner. Win’s an elite coach,” Beard said. “I’ve known Win for decades. …Win’s also a great person. High character. He impact’s the player’s lives. He’s a great role model. He’s a truth teller. He’s a positive guy. He brings great energy every day. So you know, we’re pleased to have Win in the organization. And we believe it’ll impact winning.”

A strong, ringing endorsement from Beard and one that gives the feeling Case is going to have a role within the Ole Miss staff even if it is not on the court.

Beard and Case have known each other for over 20 years, dating back to when Case was the head coach at Oklahoma City University and Beard was coaching at Seminole State College. The familiarity helps provide a comfort level Beard enjoys within his staff.

As for the rest of Beard’s first staff at Ole Miss there are names known but nothing official coming out of his office, yet.

Wes Flanigan has made the move from Auburn to Ole Miss and is one of the first pieces of Beard’s staff he his methodically putting together. Al Pinkins is another piece that was known back in the spring.

Yet Beard has not announced anything officially regarding any new hires for his program and being very deliberate in this process. Something that is extremely intentional on Beard’s part.

“Staff continues to kind of be a work in progress,” Beard said. “I understand everybody’s urgency, but it’s much more important to us to get it done right and not to get it done quickly. I understand there’s an urgency to everybody and nobody’s more urgent than I am. But we take a lot of time to make big decisions that affect the players and affect the whole organization. So, we’re off to a great start with our coaching staff.”

Ole Miss is in its second week of summer workouts and announcements involving staff, roster and schedule will be rolling out soon according to Beard.

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